Career in CSR: Get Paid for Doing Good

Most leading Indian companies today are involved in philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, related programmes. They need trained professionals to run them, whom they are ready to pay corporate-level salaries.

CSR programmes, covering the entire gamut of developmental activities, have expanded enormously in recent years. Corporate groups like the Tatas, Aditya Birla Group, Reliance Industries, Bharti Group, HCL, Infosys technologies and Wipro are all engaged in CSR, among others.

An ASSOCHAM survey conducted last year showed that fast moving consumer goods and consumer durables companies had taken the maximum number of initiatives, followed by the chemical and information technology sectors. “Many smaller firms are also getting aggressive on this front,” says Shailja Dutt, Managing Director, Stellar Search.

“There is a clear demand for professionals who understand the dynamics of government functioning, flagship programmes, economy models and social status,” says Sunil Goel, Managing Director of headhunting firm GlobalHunt. Understanding government functioning is particularly important. ”Companies need to work with the government in many key areas involving health and education. Even if they want to, they cannot just go to a slum and start some initiative,” says Dutt.

Broadly, companies look for two categories of professionals.

First: those who have experience of the social sector and will be part of execution teams. Second: those from corporate backgrounds who are adept at identifying the right areas for the companies to work in, who can carry out due diligence on project proposals before taking them up, and who will strategise fund allocation.

“The social sector offers designations like Manager, General Manager, Director-CSR, just as the corporate sector does,” says Goel. Professionals who are capable of strategic planning, have corporate experience, business acumen, scaleup expertise and come with specialisations are particularly prized. Even people from consulting backgrounds are joining the bandwagon.